Change It Up

Valerie Sartini supports her clients through a season of exciting transformation.

Photographed by Siri Berting

Valerie Sartini of Treasures Interior Design is poised and confident as she walks lightly over dusty floors. Today she holds a painter’s fan full of thousands of color options she’ll use to select the perfect shade for her clients’ new kitchen.

While she works, Valerie reflects on the job at hand. “It’s interesting,” she says as she studies colors—holding up one, then another. “We’re moving into a new season this time of year. Days are getting shorter and cooler, and our mindset really changes.”

Valerie climbs a ladder and perches on the top step to secure a better vantage point of the crown molding. “Kids going back to school—whether preschool or college—it’s a big change for families when September comes.”

Transition. It’s on Valerie’s mind because that’s what’s led her to the top step of the ladder she nimbly navigates. “This family is also moving into a new season in their lives. They raised their children here in a loving, funfilled, lived-in home. Once they took their youngest to college, they made a decision. That’s where I came in,” she smiles.

Valerie says her clients described their vision to her: “They decided to go all in and redo everything at once.”

So Valerie got busy.

The couple that lives in this home wanted a modern update designed to suit this new chapter of their lives. The favorite barstool that for years made scratches on the wood floor because that’s where everyone plopped when they came in the kitchen … gone. Splash-marks on the paint in the powder room where kiddos shook wet hands … gone. Bright purple and green paint … gone and gone!

“Those scratched hickory floors were sanded down and given a beautiful refinish,” Valerie says. And the bathrooms—new, modern wallpaper. The kids’ rooms got fresh coats of paint in warm, sophisticated colors and now double as guest bedrooms for visitors and extended family.

“When kids leave home, it’s difficult. As parents, we experience change—it’s change that comes with growth in our child and, surprisingly, maybe our own growth too,” she says. “I’m finding that many couples are shifting and focusing on their own interests, which they haven’t been fully able to do raising their children.”

With these life changes, Valerie taps into her clients’ interests to create new uses for freed-up room space. She’s designed yoga and workout rooms for those who want exercise space at home, pottery or painting rooms for artists, and libraries for her book-loving clients.

“These rooms reflect how my clients are also transitioning their own futures. They reflect the pursuit of hobbies or passions there’s now time for,” Valerie explains. “And it brings them so much joy!”

Back in the kitchen, she describes the transformation that’s taken place in the rest of the home. “Most of the furniture was replaced, some reupholstered, without too much thought about picking dark, durable fabrics that would mask spills or little smudgy footprints. My clients selected exactly what they love.”

The family office was painted navy blue, cabinets went from cream to bright white, and the kitchen island went from black to a softer celadon.

Valerie has descended the ladder and set down her paint fan. She looks around and reflects on the changes that are happening both to the home to her clients, and the promise this transition holds for them.